Drake jumped up, nodding at Hayden. In the road the scene was now quite different. The terrorists were down, cops standing around looking shell-shocked, officers shouting into radios that every establishment should be checked.
Hayden bit her lip. “Did that guy say ‘Ramses’?”
“Aye,” Drake’s accent thickened. “Who the bloody hell is he?”
Kinimaka was staring between them. “Why do I get the feeling the terrorists and the mercs are working for different bosses?” He kicked away the dead terrorist’s gun, stumbling over the curb and sitting down hard on the wing of a car in the process.
“Mainly?” Drake said in response. “Because terrorists and mercs don’t mix. Not generally. Their ideals are poles apart.” He shook his head, thinking fast. “Look, we don’t have time to sort through all this. There’s more than just Whitehall at stake.”
“Message from Karin.” Hayden pecked at her cellphone. “Yorgi has landed. The op in Paris is a go.”
Drake stared around at the chaos. “Let’s hope they have better luck than we did.”
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
As she assessed Le Grand Hyatt, Alicia found her thoughts wandering. Recently it had become increasingly clear to her that the course of her life had to change. Running would only take her so far and, by its very nature, would only end up taking her full circle. Nobody could run for their entire life. A reckoning was coming, she knew, when she would have to take some time and face the demons of her life — the very real devils that had shaped it.
But not now and not today.
She stood in a window with Yorgi at her side, opposite the fancy looking but timeworn French hotel. Caitlyn had already downloaded blueprints and was trying to isolate their targets’ rooms. The other three present members of their team, Crouch, Healey and Russo, were checking weapons, comms systems and other crucial equipment, a practice drummed into every soldier even in initial training.
Alicia ignored the mission and started drilling Yorgi for information. “So, what the hell’s up with Mai?”
The Russian looked uneasy. “I speak poor English,” he said. “Sorry.”
Alicia took hold of an ear. “Bollocks to that. You forget I was there when we rescued you, Yorgi. Now, the little Sprite’s got a big problem. Spill.”
“In truth I don’t know much.” Yorgi spread his hands wide. “It is a problem she brought back from Tokyo. I heard she killed man, a low Yakuza employee, and then they kill his family just to tie… what you say? Tie up…?”
“Loose ends,” Alicia said reflectively. “Damn.”
“Only the daughter lives,” Yorgi finished.
Alicia whistled, showing no emotion. Inwardly, her heart was with Mai and the family. Such things could never be laid to rest.
“And how’s Drake coping?”
It was one question too many and Alicia knew it. Quickly, she turned away, freeing Yorgi from the answer and glaring toward Caitlyn.
“We ready yet?”
The dark-haired girl scrunched her nose. “Second floor,” she said. “And check out is at 1 p.m.” She checked her watch. “If they’re checking out today it won’t be long.”
Crouch came over. “Despite what Beauregard told Alicia I’m inclined to act first rather than wait and see. Yorgi, you’re up.”
The young thief inclined his head, showing no real emotion. He double-checked the blueprint and compared it to the row of rooms Caitlyn had isolated. “We know which one has sample?”
Caitlyn shook her head. “You have a choice of three double rooms. Three names they’re using are known aliases, yes, but nobody stands out as a leader. I couldn’t speculate.”
“I’d prefer to avoid open battle.” Crouch knew about events in Los Angeles and London.
“It won’t be necessary,” Yorgi said. “I will take samples from under noses of men.”
Alicia grabbed hold of his arm as he started to move out. “You do know I’m coming with you, right?”
“No, no. I work best alone. You will make me worse.”
Alicia’s brows shot up as one. “Excuse me?”
“Always alone. Always. I have… trade secret.”
Alicia laughed. “If you die alone in there, Yorgi, you’re gonna be on my shit list.”
“You come so far,” Yorgi granted. “Will help. But I finish alone.”
“I can live with that.”
Alicia strode alongside Yorgi as the thief threaded a knot of back streets on his way to the hotel. Standing almost a head taller, blond and as muscular as a world-class athlete, she immediately looked conspicuous but a padded coat and woolly hat diluted most of her eye-catching assets. Linking arms with Yorgi, the pair strolled around like a couple in love. When at last the hotel’s rear entrance appeared ahead Yorgi stopped.
“Why not the front door?” Alicia wondered. “We can take the elevators to their front door.”
“This way we can take service elevators,” Yorgi said. “Not made to be noticed.” He gesticulated widely as was his habit. “Rear entrances are watched, yes, but not as carefully as lobby and corridors. Service staff always come and go.” He pointed out a waiter sneaking out of a door and lighting a cigarette. “Many chances.”
“We’re not appropriately dressed.”
Yorgi shrugged. “This is true. If it was I, Yorgi, planning this it would take a week or more. We have less than one hour.”
Alicia slowed as Yorgi waited for the smoker to leave. At the first appropriate doorway he leaned in and Alicia folded her arms around his neck. “Oh.”
“I am sorry. It is necessary,” he whispered into her ear.
“I know. But it’s still the closest thing to a shag I’ve had in months.” She remembered the open comms. “Except when Russo jumped on top of me.”
The man’s angry snort was a wasp in her ear. “I was thrown.”
Alicia held Yorgi tighter. “Likely story. You’re the size of a bloody Sasquatch.”
“Beauregard—” Russo began.
“Oh don’t mention his name when I’m all cuddled up,” Alicia moaned. “Makes me so—”
Yorgi pulled away. Luckily, the smoker had returned to work. The couple made their way to a pair of grungy doors which worked on a push-bar from the inside. Fixed to one side was a bell but there were no door handles. The single door to the left, however, was as standard as they came. Alicia grunted happily, reaching for the handle. Yorgi pushed in front of her.
“Follow me.”
A narrow, well-lit corridor ran away, cleaved on both sides by several single and double doors. The noise of a kitchen swelled from the right, doors wide open, and steam and the smell of garlic, tomato and baked bread drifting out. Yorgi moved fast, surprising Alicia, scurrying past the opening as if his heels were on fire. He paused at the next door, glanced in and moved on. Alicia hurried to catch up.
At the end of the corridor a pair of modest steel doors denoted one of the service elevators. Yorgi pressed a button and waited, head down.
Alicia saw the chef first. Emerging from the kitchen he stared straight at them, a look of irritation twisting his features. Alicia read the look in an instant, suddenly understanding that guests tried this on more frequently than she imagined.
“Hey, you’re not supposed to—”
His English accent was pure cockney. Alicia fed the man’s own conclusions, grabbed Yorgi and swung him into the just-arrived elevator, giggling all the time. With a loud “Byeeee!” she jabbed the second floor button and watched the doors close.
Yorgi untangled himself. “From blueprint we go left out doors, count five rooms and enter. Then, it is up to me.”
Alicia nodded and watched the Russian assemble the ‘special’ goods he had asked the Gold Team to procure as he made the London to Paris flight. Nothing spectacular, just a mini wrecking bar, some leather gloves with the fingers cut out and a reserve backpack. Alicia took a moment to hand him a small caliber pistol.